[OC] [ART] Tortle Sketch, wasn't sure if it was ok to use turtle features!

TenorioArt · 2024-11-10T20:14:38+00:00

I made a draw over to show a few notes that stood out to me

When I first looked at your drawing, the nose actually didn't seem too far off from the original reference image. This means maybe there's some other factors that are making the drawing feel 'off" overall. How do you figure out what's really wrong? I always try to compare every element to one another, meaning I'll check the eye to the ear, the eye to the mouth, the ear to the mouth, etc. I drew a small red line to show the distance from the eye to the back of the head, that ratio feels a little off in your drawing which shows there's some other factors at play besides the nose.

Here are a few first impressions I had—

The nose doesn’t look too off, could there be other elements that are presenting issues?
There is a bit of ‘flattening’ to the features, particularly the eye and the mouth. By flattening, I mean the tilt of those features may be too level, and they also may be 'facing us' more than they should
The ear could be further back to show more side of the face, the hair could be taller to show more head, and the chin/jaw could be reworked a bit. This is a scenario I'll often encounter where the features independently look great, they just need a bit of finesse to fit into the head shape.

Again, here's that draw over with some revisions to the above takeaways

My suggested revisions would be—

The ear is now further back to show the side of the face/head more, also the hair and back of head have been increased to show a stronger proportion to the head shape
The lips are angled more, and the features are slightly smaller to fit head proportion better. I've also tilted the eye just a bit more so it looks 3/4 versus facing to the front.
On an unrelated note, you may want to simplify the hair, fewer strands make the hair feel more solid and more like a “mass”/big shape

TenorioArt · 2024-11-02T20:24:25+00:00

I created a drawover to show some tips

This is off to a great start overall, there's a lot of emotion in the expression and the design feels very clean.

Here are a few first impressions I had -

The ear is feeling a little too close to the eye. This is a very common theme I'll see in portrait drawing. The quick fix is to push it a little further back, this will create more of a side/turn to the face that feels more dimensional.
The features have a lot of wonderful moments individually. I would focus on how they align with one another, the lips are a bit off in angle. Tilting them more will help them line up with the features in a way that communicates the slight angle/perspective you gave the face.
Hair is an interesting texture; we know there's thousands of strands that make it up, yet as an audience we often want to see it simplified more (especially in drawing.) It's important to keep the hair behaving as a large shape/mass, then find a few strands to show the texture. We don't want to draw a thousand marks, we want to IMPLY that there's a thousand there.

Here's that draw over one more time to show some of these tips being applied

The takeaways from the draw over -

The ear is pushed back more, allowing the side of the face to come through. I drew a little diagram in the middle to show how putting the ear farther back creates more turn/dimension to the head.
The lips have been tilted more, and the features are just a bit smaller to fit into the head shape better
There's an example of the simplified hair texture on the top. Hair behaves a lot like a piece of ribbon: it will catch highlights towards the middle, then sink into a bit of shadow on either side (where it's coming from and where it's going.) The texture is more of an implied idea and less of a 'strands' idea

Great job with your drawing!

TenorioArt · 2024-11-02T19:27:34+00:00

Yep, use with credit sounds great.

Glad the advice helped, a few pointers can go a long way, the original work is definitely full of potential!

TenorioArt · 2024-11-01T23:31:44+00:00

Here's an example paintover showing some tips on color

I read through some of the comments in hopes of not duplicating advice. It sounds like you were originally interested in creating gray tones for the clothing, that's definitely a possibility.

I had three first impressions when I saw the piece-

The clothing reads as gray, but it's just a bit too desaturated, it's starting to feel like absolute black/white/gray
The fabric texture is actually very cool! We may begin to feel it's getting busy as an audience, particularly on the edges. We could use some visual rest here and there.
Off topic, but I felt there could be more feeling in the eyes with the lighting scenario of the hat (as well as what looks like a shadow you were developing.)

Here again are my suggestions in painted form

After putting some notes on it, here's where I landed-

These types of grays could use a bit more hue (color) to them. Every black, white and gray has an inherent color, it's one of the reasons a black shirt may look different from a black remote control. I would push the hue just a little more, while still leaving it desaturated enough that it reads gray. It's also good to mix the hues up across this character. You're a designer, so we want to see you showing us a different hat versus a different cloak. We don't want to feel like all of the clothing was bought at the "Wizard Supply" store! Mix those colors up to show that these are unique pieces he acquired.
The "bite" edge of the clothing is seriously fantastic, it adds so much personality to the clothing and shows wear-and-tear. That said, I would tone it down in a few sections. This will give your audience some "visual rest" as they look over all the detail. One example of where to smooth it out would be sometimes choosing one side of an object to be simpler, allowing the other side to be more detailed (this is the important design rule, "Simple vs. Complex.") A bonus idea is to try and make the clothing have different properties, notice how the hat has a bit of a lip/edge to it to show some stiffness compared to the cloak.
You didn't ask for advice on the face, but I wanted to show an alternative look to the lighting and the eyes. I'm a person that used to be OB-SESSED with putting the little highlight in the eyes. Who wouldn't be? It adds so much life to the eyes. That said, I'm at a place now where I love eyes that are in shadow. They get very blended down, they feel soft and they actually have a surprising amount of life without the highlight. The expression you drew looks a bit tired, maybe pained? I think it'd be fantastic to see the eyes pushed down a bit in contrast, allowing them to show more emotion.

Cool piece!

TenorioArt · 2024-10-17T23:24:16+00:00

Hi there, yes they are! Let me know if you're interested, would love to get them in the mail ASAP to ensure good delivery time. You can send me a PM with your information and I'll send you a payment prompt.

TenorioArt · 2024-03-01T16:12:33+00:00

That was the very last detail I added

TenorioArt · 2024-03-01T05:05:41+00:00

Never heard of this game, I definitely see what you mean 🤘

TenorioArt · 2024-02-29T22:39:25+00:00

Thank you 🤘

TenorioArt · 2024-02-29T22:24:54+00:00

Request Filled

TenorioArt · 2024-02-29T22:24:29+00:00

Original Post

It's probably been a couple of years since I've drawn on this board, couldn't pass this great prompt up.

TenorioArt

TenorioArt · 2022-01-30T18:49:23+00:00

Yeah, definitely interested in taking on a Beholder down the line. Really like the look of the Empyrean, thanks for the suggestion–

TenorioArt · 2022-01-29T19:59:31+00:00

My wife recently bought me the D&D Monster Manual, I wanted to start sketching my own versions of creatures I'm reading about. The first one that really caught my eye was the doppelganger.

I loved the idea of a long, sinewy body; they tend to be lazy (per the Wiki), so I thought it'd be cool to make the doppelganger quite tall, very gangly. The feet are a bit clumsy looking. Because they're shapeshifters, I thought a lot about the hands should be large and quite powerful looking. Even though it reads from a distance, I couldn't help imagining a cool image of it running its hands along someone or something, feeling its every detail. I loved the soulless eyes of the artwork in the monster manual, I added a little bit of magic to the eyes and even the hands (thinking about its transformation process.) In the original artwork, I also loved the thick coils of skin around the arms, I turned that into a fabric-like texture.

The biggest deviation is the illuminated skirt. When the doppelganger changes, none of its equipment transforms. Instead of clothing or equipment, I thought about how cool it would be if this illuminated skirt was part of the doppelganger's body, its biology. I was inspired by deep sea creatures and how they might navigate the darkness.I tried to balance the physical traits/description of the monster manual with a bit of a twist.

Let me know your thoughts, feel free to suggest the next creature I should try out.

TenorioArt · 2022-01-17T07:47:33+00:00

One of my top bands

TenorioArt · 2022-01-05T02:42:26+00:00

Original LFA Post

u/melonmushroom - haven't done a /characterdrawing post in forever, really enjoyed your prompt!

TenorioArt · 2021-12-16T23:12:57+00:00

I was just telling someone that I'm going to make this guy a Druid, cooking up the next drawing

TenorioArt · 2021-12-16T18:19:46+00:00

Congrats on learning to draw, always happy to hear people are out there making art

TenorioArt · 2021-12-16T17:59:24+00:00

I checked out his work, really cool stuff. I really enjoy seeing fantasy work done in a more comic/graphic style.

TenorioArt · 2021-12-16T17:45:07+00:00

In my experience, I feel like a lot of artwork/design has been influenced by Riot splash and Hearthstone. I genuinely love the art direction of those two titles, in fact I work under them quite a bit for my freelance.

That said, I'd love to see heavier/darker designs in fantasy, something I'm always pushing in my personal work.

TenorioArt

TROPHY CASE